Railroad tracks are typically secured in critical locations such as turnouts where significant forces are exerted transverse to the tracks, with special end restraints. To this end the tracks are fixed to rail plates extending transverse to the tracks, and each end of each rail plate is in turn secured to the underlayment, typically of concrete in a high-stress area, by a respective resilient end restraint, such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,766,249, 8,056,826, or 8,210,444.
Such devices are extremely effective in preventing potentially harmful lateral shifting of the rails and rail plate. Under normal use, however, each end restraint is largely responsible only for bracing the track in one direction, that is the end restraint at one end is responsible for resisting movement transverse to the tracks in an outward direction toward that one restraint, and the restraint at the other end is responsible for resisting opposite forces.
As a result it is necessary to construct these end restraints each to withstand considerable forces, since they are primarily working one at a time.